Photo By Chief Petty Officer Joseph Vincent | SAN DIEGO (APR. 14, 2022) Vice Chair, Supervisor County of San Diego District 1, Nora...... read more read more
SAN DIEGO – Military and civilians from throughout Navy Region Southwest (NRSW) and San Diego County met together to hold the first annual Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEI&A) Summit, April 14.
The summit, organized by Navy Lt. Arabia Shanklin, the DEI Practitioner at NRSW, was a half a day community collaborative event designed to share ongoing DEI&A initiatives and best practices among local government, private & non-profit agencies.
“Our goal is to collectively understand, collaborate, and empower positive influencers to improve organizational performance and work place culture within our spheres of influence,” said Shanklin. “We did that through inviting NRSW’s community partners with a future goal to extend the invitation to additional local government, public & private sectors whom they do not have a pre-existing relationship with."
The event, offered virtually as well as in person, featured DEI&A speakers from civilian companies and non-profits alongside military specialists. More than 60 people were in attendance.
“We had speakers from Amazon, City of San Diego, San Diego Zoo, ResMed, and Leaders 20/20 leading panels and breakouts alongside our Navy and Marine Corps DEI&A specialists,” said Shanklin. “We had the opportunity to see our common DEI&A goals align and walk out of the summit with an intentional working plan for tangible targeted change.”
Lasting just four and a half hours, the summit encouraged all attendees to share their unique perspectives and have the sometimes difficult, but honest conversations that occur in the DEI&A environment, stated Shanklin.
“The way ahead from the conference is turning the thought and action of the San Diego DEI&A Stakeholders into a rough road map, aligning our practice and execution with our ideals,” said Shanklin. We asked that we should not try to mirror society but be better."
Top NRSW leadership, to include Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, commander, NRSW, Capt. Mark Nieswiadomy, chief of staff, and Command Master Chief Lisa Tisdale were active participants in the event.
“Whether you’re with NRSW or the County of San Diego, we are here to make a difference,” said Barnett. “Your collective stories, along with our experiences from our organizations, to include our successes and failures - all of it - will help us learn on how we can improve our work culture.”
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2022 18:02 |
| Story ID: | 418546 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 222 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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